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WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING:

"The celebrated goaltender from Michigan who led Team USA to a stunning 2004 World Junior Championship has had an injury-interrupted third AHL season, notably suffering a fractured vertebrae. Though eclipsed in the Rangers' universe by Henrik Lundqvist, Montoya remains a prospect. "Al is a skilled, athletic, competitive goaltender who needs to refine his technique," (NY Rangers' assistant GM Jim) Schoenfeld said. "As is the cae with so many young goalies, he needs to understand how to do more by doing less. It's a learning process."" (Larry Brooks, The Hockey News Future Watch 2008, p. 43)

TRANSACTIONS:

Selected by New York Rangers in first round (first Rangers pick, sixth overall) of National Hockey League entry draft, June 26, 2004.

Named to National Collegiate Athletic Association (West) All-American Second Team, 2003-04.

Named to Central Collegiate Hockey Association All-Star Second Team, 2003-04.

Goaltender, Team PlanetUSA, American Hockey League All-Star Game, February 1, 2006. Al wore sweater number 29.

FIRSTS:

On April 1, 2009, Al made his National Hockey League debut at the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado, as his Phoenix Coyotes faced the hometown Colorado Avalanche. Montoya made twenty-three saves, earning his first career National Hockey League win and his first career National Hockey League shutout all in one night. "I thought early in the game he made a couple of key saves. It was a real solid effort for a guy playing his first NHL game," Phoenix coach Wayne Gretzky said. "Good for him. Hopefully this is something good to go from here."

INJURIES:

Left game with undisclosed injury, February 11, 2006.

Left game with injury, October 21, 2007.

Left game with upper body injury, November 24, 2009.

Left game with injury, December 8, 2010.

Left game with concussion, December 20, 2011. Montoya left with 1:20 left in the second period after Winnipeg's Evander Kane drove to the net and collided with him, and the netminder had to be helped off the ice.

Left game with groin injury, March 3, 2015. Montoya had already replaced injured Florida starter Roberto Luongo, but injured his groin in a collision with Toronto forward Nazem Kadri early in the third period. Florida goaltender coach Rob Tallas dressed as an emergency backup, but Montoya managed to stay in the game until Luongo could get back into his equipment and onto the ice.

Left game with head injury, November 23, 2015. Midway through the first period, Montoya was hurt when he collided with Los Angeles forward Nick Shore after stopping Dustin Brown's wrist shot on a 2-on-1. Shore's shoulder appeared to hit Montoya in the head when he dove headfirst to try and poke home the rebound. Roberto Luongo finished the game for the Panthers.

Left game with head injury, February 28, 2016. At 7:25 of the first period in Florida's 3-1 loss to Minnesota, Montoya was elbowed in the head by Wild defenseman Marco Scandella (who was given a penalty for goaltender interference). Montoya remained on the ice with the Florida trainer before leaving the game, replaced by Roberto Luongo.

NHL PENALTY SHOTS:

DATE

SHOOTER

GOAL?

NOTES

11/02/2013

Patrick Kane

N

01/05/2014

Sidney Crosby

N

03/01/2015

Tyler Johnson

N

03/05/2016

Anthony Duclair

N

NHL SHOOTOUTS:

DATE

DEC

OPPONENT

GF

GA

03/06/2011

L

New Jersey

1

2

Mattias Tedenby

Ilya Kovalchuk

Patrik Elias

Jacob Josefson

Travis Zajac

Brian Rolston

04/08/2011

L

Pittsburgh

0

1

Kris Letang

Alexei Kovalev

Chris Kunitz

12/02/2011

L

Chicago

0

1

Jonathan Toews

Marian Hossa

12/17/2011

W

Minnesota

1

0

Matt Cullen

Marek Zidlicky

Dany Heatley

02/04/2012

L

Buffalo

0

2

Brad Boyes

Jason Pominville

03/17/2012

W

Montreal

3

2

David Desharnais

Tomas Plekanec

Max Pacioretty

Rene Bourque

Lars Eller

Andrei Markov

11/18/2013

L

Calgary

2

3

Joe Colborne

Jiri Hudler

Michael Cammalleri

Lee Stempniak

T.J. Brodie

Sven Baertschi

Kris Russell

Sean Monahan

02/08/2014

L

St. Louis

0

2

Alexander Steen

T.J. Oshie

Vladimir Tarasenko

10/18/2014

L

Washington

1

3

Evgeny Kuznetsov

Nicklas Backstrom

Alexander Ovechkin

12/04/2015

W

Columbus

2

1

Ryan Johansen

Cam Atkinson

Alexander Wennberg

Boone Jenner

02/15/2016

W

Pittsburgh

2

1

Sidney Crosby

Chris Kunitz

Kris Letang

Phil Kessel

Matt Cullen

02/18/2016

L

San Jose

1

2

Joonas Donskoi

Joe Pavelski

10/15/2016

L

Ottawa

1

2

Kyle Turris

Bobby Ryan

Derick Brassard

Erik Karlsson

02/05/2017

L

Edmonton

0

1

Leon Draisaitl

Mark Letestu

02/25/2018

W

Anaheim

2

1

Rickard Rakell

Ryan Getzlaf

Ondrej Kase

DID YOU KNOW?

Al was ejected from the February 24, 2007 AHL contest against the Norfolk Admirals for fighting fellow goaltender Corey Crawford.

Game logs have been compiled using the best information that I can find; for a detailed list of known concerns, please click here. I am always looking for assistance in making these more accurate, and welcome your help. For the 1983-84 season and prior, one of my key sources was the Hockey Summary Project, a tremendous resource and one of the best data collections on the Internet. In return, I have attempted to make these data better where possible.